Move From Phuket To Cm

[cloudhopper]

I must also say my point wasn't even aimed at you or most of the posters who gave good honest advice, just the few who use threads like this to irrationally bash places that other people call home. Pretty pointless when the OP already lives there IMO.

OK fair and true enough. Let me take a different tack then and suggest that the OP and others wishing to compare and contrast life styles simply scroll down the TV 'News and Events' forums for Phuket and Chiang Mai in quick succession.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

All I was saying was that Phuket is a victim of it's own success and that if CM was as popular it would have the exact same problems.

Nobody is trying to tell you that CM isn't perfect for you and many others, but if you are trying to deny that in general Phuket is more popular than CM, then you are not being rational IMO.

I don't think that's accurate. Phuket is indeed FAR more popular when it comes to tourism. Specifically package tourism and sex tourism. As a place for expats to retire though I don't think Phuket is ahead? Or even if it would get ahead, a factor in how much of a problem is caused by a huge Farang Influx is the relative overall size and native population of the place. Chiang Mai as a city (and as a province) is so much bigger, that the same number of Farangs flowing in will f*$* up the place less. Another feature of the Phuket expat scene is that it's all in dense clusters around the main beach areas. Phuket Town is already a lot more civilized.

As an aside, in terms of how messed up a place gets, also don't rule out domestic migration; migrants from all over Thailand who come to work in the tourism industry. As those people have no local roots and litlte of the traditional social village structure, they are also more likely to derail. So you get the double whammy of the Farang Tsunami first, then a follow up of riff-raff to work in the tourist industry. The result is something like downtown Pattaya.

I'm not saying that could never happen in Chiang Mai, but it seems less likely because the native population is larger, and because Chiang Mai, at the end of the day, is a boring hole where nothing ever happens, with no sea/beach or other lasting attractions, and with toxic air for pretty much a whole during the dry season. But there are also positive reasons why Chiang Mai is less likely to get f$(*Ued up in a hurry: domestic migrants do seem more likely to at least originate from culturally similar places in the North, by and large. Lots of people from Lampang, Chiang Rai or Lamphun. That's less of a clash than putting someone from Surin in Phuket, and expect them to get along with the local Phuket population. Compare to the person from Lampang who is much likelier to feel accepted, and once part of the social fabric of the town they're more likely to care about the place they live in.

The OP already lives in Phuket so somebody telling him that they think it's a 'hell hole' isn't much benefit at all. He knows what it's like already and would probably benefit from unbiased honest differences as most people gave. Some people were so busy insinuating that nobody could possibly ever want to live in Phuket that they didn't answer simple questions like the price of schools which the OP specifically asked.

I do agree completely with you here.

Edited June 25, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai

[cerbera]

I think this is one of the few measured topics on the different merits of both places. Chiang Mai is great right now but for a few months it is nearly unliveable in chiang Mai. That's when a nice flight on air Asia down to Phuket is a welcome relief.

Money, big houses flash cars seem to be more important in phuket hence prices.

For me having a place in both is heaven.

[Puwa]

I've heard it said that...

Farang in Phuket like to pretend they are tycoons.

Farang in Pattaya like to pretend they are mafia.

Farang in Bangkok like to pretend they are sober.

Farang in Chiang Mai like to pretend they are Thai.

[underthemoon]

Thank you for some of the advice on this thread, I am hopefully moving up from Bangkok next month to Chiang Mai and this has given me some good information

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I'd like to get back to popularity of Phuket vs Chiang Mai, specifically:

All I was saying was that Phuket is a victim of it's own success and that if CM was as popular it would have the exact same problems. Nobody is trying to tell you that CM isn't perfect for you and many others, but if you are trying to deny that in general Phuket is more popular than CM, then you are not being rational IMO.

Looking at the number of flights to various destinations in Thailand, there are indeed more flights to Phuket but it's not a world of difference. Phuket I think is a victim of its small size more than it's overall success; more idiots per tarang wa, versus Chiang Mai, where the idiots get to spread out more.

(Combined Thai Air, Air Asia, Nok and 1-2Go flights per day, for daily flights in July)

Or if you look at popularity among expats, for lack of accurate public data, we can take for example forum posts on this expat forum:

Phuket: 10,698 topics, 112,080 replies.

Chiang Mai: 18,479 topics, 247,103 replies.

I'm sure Thavisa could do better statistics getting into the number of actual users, but it seems fair to say that Chiang Mai has up to double the expat population of Phuket?

Edited June 27, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai

[steelepulse]

I'd like to get back to popularity of Phuket vs Chiang Mai, specifically:

All I was saying was that Phuket is a victim of it's own success and that if CM was as popular it would have the exact same problems. Nobody is trying to tell you that CM isn't perfect for you and many others, but if you are trying to deny that in general Phuket is more popular than CM, then you are not being rational IMO.

Looking at the number of flights to various destinations in Thailand, there are indeed more flights to Phuket but it's not a world of difference. Phuket I think is a victim of its small size more than it's overall success; more idiots per tarang wa, versus Chiang Mai, where the idiots get to spread out more.

(Combined Thai Air, Air Asia, Nok and 1-2Go flights per day, for daily flights in July)

Or if you look at popularity among expats, for lack of accurate public data, we can take for example forum posts on this expat forum:

Phuket: 10,698 topics, 112,080 replies.

Chiang Mai: 18,479 topics, 247,103 replies.

I'm sure Thavisa could do better statistics getting into the number of actual users, but it seems fair to say that Chiang Mai has up to double the expat population of Phuket?

Excellent posts WTK. One thing that might help clear things up in regards to flights. While that pie chart of flights from BKK shows the two are quite close, what it doesn't show is the huge number of overseas flights going directly to Phuket. I believe that the airport is up to almost million visitors in Phuket, with quite a lot of these visitors being on direct overseas flights.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

True; and besides, it also can't show the percentage of international tourists versus local people. For Chiang Mai the vast majority on just about any flight are Thai people. Could be different for Phuket.

[onthedarkside]

I'm sure Thavisa could do better statistics getting into the number of actual users, but it seems fair to say that Chiang Mai has up to double the expat population of Phuket?

Don't have any figures to hand right this minute but I do know that Chiang Mai Forum has many more post/hits per day than Phuket Forum. Like, by a factor of 10 times more. Not sure if TV has figures for members by area in Thailand. Never seen that anywhere. Sure Admin will be along soon and correct me

[hellodolly]

I'm sure Thavisa could do better statistics getting into the number of actual users, but it seems fair to say that Chiang Mai has up to double the expat population of Phuket?

Don't have any figures to hand right this minute but I do know that Chiang Mai Forum has many more post/hits per day than Phuket Forum. Like, by a factor of 10 times more. Not sure if TV has figures for members by area in Thailand. Never seen that anywhere. Sure Admin will be along soon and correct me

Always wondered how big the expat population was here in Chiang Mai, Pattaya. Phuket and Bangkok.

Hard to really tell as there seems to be a lot of posters who actually live in another country but continue posting here. Not many of them admit it but if you read all their osts you see where they let it slip out.

[steelepulse]

I'm sure Thavisa could do better statistics getting into the number of actual users, but it seems fair to say that Chiang Mai has up to double the expat population of Phuket?

Don't have any figures to hand right this minute but I do know that Chiang Mai Forum has many more post/hits per day than Phuket Forum. Like, by a factor of 10 times more. Not sure if TV has figures for members by area in Thailand. Never seen that anywhere. Sure Admin will be along soon and correct me

One thing that needs to be kept in mind is the demographics of the expats in Phuket vs Chiang Mai. Expats in Phuket aren't necessarily retired and usually working or playing, not necessarily posting due to being at home most of the time Can the same be said of the expat demographic of Chiang Mai? I'm not sure as I haven't been up there in years, but from reading various threads over the years, I think there are quite a few retirees up there.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I'm sure Thavisa could do better statistics getting into the number of actual users, but it seems fair to say that Chiang Mai has up to double the expat population of Phuket?

Don't have any figures to hand right this minute but I do know that Chiang Mai Forum has many more post/hits per day than Phuket Forum. Like, by a factor of 10 times more.

Ok, so if I adjust down to take out my own hits, then that still leaves about a factor 2-3.

Thanks!!

One thing that needs to be kept in mind is the demographics of the expats in Phuket vs Chiang Mai. Expats in Phuket aren't necessarily retired and usually working or playing, not necessarily posting due to being at home most of the time Can the same be said of the expat demographic of Chiang Mai? I'm not sure as I haven't been up there in years, but from reading various threads over the years, I think there are quite a few retirees up there.

I think it's all pretty similar for all locations, with the possible exception for Bangkok; people are a lot more likely to be there for work. Lots of people working a job in Chiang Mai, similar to Phuket I suppose.

Edited June 28, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai